This may be something of an information overload. I do want to suggest that while the combat section is extremely detailed, I don’t know that most players (myself included) pay QUITE that much attention to all that detail. It’s there when you need it… when your whole party is on the verge of being wiped out and every single spell or bonus counts, it’s nice to have it there. But most of the time I just pay more attention to the health bars and who has been silenced / slept / etc.

Anyway, this is RPG Codex. They aren’t predisposed to heap favor upon games. I think Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon obtains some good will and a little grace on account of having turn-based combat, which might help offset the marks against it over there for having low-budget looks, a pregenerated party, and the overall silliness that it embraces. Still, it’s a pretty fair preview, and actually helped cement some ideas for small-but-significant changes I made over the weekend to improve the first-time player experience. Mainly tutorial stuff, though I feel I managed to kill two or three birds with one stone here.

We’re almost there, guys. I hope you like it. We’re not out of the woods yet, so there are no guarantees, but… I hope you haven’t made any big plans this weekend.

If the Codex says anything more generous than “This game sucks enough to rupture the fabric of space-time itself”, then that amounts to its equivalent of a favorable review.

Barry Brenesal said,

“The warrior Arianna, the menstruation girl as I call her; she always looks like the incarnation of PMS. Maybe that’s the reason she usually inflicts the most carnage.”

Tactless and tasteless: at least with RPG Codex, you always know what to expect.

“It’s one thing to have a genuinely funny moment every once in a while, but it’s a completely different thing to be funny all the time.”

Until he plays the whole thing, of course, he has no way of knowing the answer to this. So it’s a cheap caveat to throw out at your expense, looking wise without actually having anything to show for it.

T’ain’t bad, as RPG Codex goes. That they put away the long knives and only postured is a tribute to your work.

ArrPeeJee said,

Yeah, the preview pretty much confirms that RPGCodex suffers from Asperger’s. I’m not sure if the author was trying to convey the tactical depth of the turn-based gameplay with that overly detailed turn-by-turn “Let’s Play” example, but that section was a tedious read to slog through. Turn-based games are meant to be played not spectate through. Nice interview questions at the end though.

The overly detailed “Let’s Play” was actually my write-up, so I am fully responsible for the tedious slog. I had no idea the combat was going to take that long when I started.

Automata said,

Rampant Coyote, I think interacting with the Codex is a pretty shrewd idea.

As “tactless” as RPG Codex may be, they’re not “tasteless”, at least where it actually matters in this context: RPG design and development.

Like any site, the RPG Codex has a wide variety of people with different tastes. And the “brutal harsh” treatment that games get there is actually pretty important for developers to pay attention to. If they’re not phrased in a manner to your liking, that doesn’t mean that they’re not valid.

A good game will be enjoyed by – and more importantly, purchased by – a lot more people than a mediocre one. If a company earns a reputation for making good games, then a small company can save itself some advertising as the buzz will generate itself.

Putting your game through the RPG Codex wringer is a great stress-test: people will call you out on bad decisions without worrying about how you feel very openly, and the back-and-forth between not only community-developer but within the community can give the developer a good idea; if not for this game, then another one.

In particular response to Barry Brenesal:
“Until he plays the whole thing, of course, he has no way of knowing the answer to this. So it’s a cheap caveat to throw out at your expense, looking wise without actually having anything to show for it.”

Comedy is a very subjective thing. It’s much riskier to put into games as a result. Even if you do find something funny, and even if you’re good at writing humor, after a few hours or so it can get a bit trying, and if a lot of people think so it’d serve him best to at the very least remind him of it.

Automata: I agree. As I said, it was a pretty fair preview. The community may not be among the most genteel on the Internet, but they aren’t inclined to blow smoke up your backside. They call it like they see it, and it’s a diverse group. Some of the community over there are going to hate this game. Some will love it. I’d rather someone have a good idea up front of what they are going into than go in with one set of expectations, and then feel like victims of a bait-and-switch.

So I can’t really fault VoD for being cautious in the preview. He called it like he saw it, expressed both his concerns and cautious praise, and his readers expect nothing less of him.

I guess I should note that I’m on Mountain Time… So it could be Thursday for some folks. Assuming I don’t miss my window.

Barry Brenesal said,

“Comedy is a very subjective thing. It’s much riskier to put into games as a result. Even if you do find something funny, and even if you’re good at writing humor, after a few hours or so it can get a bit trying, and if a lot of people think so it’d serve him best to at the very least remind him of it.”

Very true, Automata. But if I may explain: ny point was simply that the author of the piece was stating a truism, as much as the sun rises in the morning. It adds nothing to either the reader’s or the developer’s knowledge to know that it’s hard to be funny on a regular basis throughout an entire game. Any developer worth their salt is aware of games that have succeeded in doing this, and those that failed. This very late in the game cycle I’d suggest the developer isn’t going to benefit from this reminder. Nor would one worth anything need it. Instead, it’s the interviewer striking a pose.

Feel free to disagree with that. As a late friend of mine would say, “De gustibus.” And all opinions such as these are as right as we all know them to be.

Barry Brenesal said,

One other point, as long as I’m in the mood:

“”As “tactless” as RPG Codex may be, they’re not “tasteless”, at least where it actually matters in this context: RPG design and development.”

But since the context I mentioned was this remark in the interview:

“The warrior Arianna, the menstruation girl as I call her; she always looks like the incarnation of PMS. Maybe that’s the reason she usually inflicts the most carnage.”

…then it is both. Tactless and tasteless. Classic fit in context, really. 😉